Named from The Grove, a fine two-storey Georgian mansion with grounds which extended up to Antrim Road. Grove Library and Grove Wellbeing Centre now stand on this site. The house was marked on Taylor and Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland (1777), 0.75km north of the town. In 1883-4 the estate included a gate lodge, a rockery and a tank (IHTA xvii, 80). In his article “When The Shore Road Was A Rural Retreat” (https://issuu.com/glenravel/docs/1_ntbelfast/28), Joe Baker reports that the house had three different owners during its history as a private residence, namely the Simms family, then John Sinclair, then W. Barry Ritchie, the Mountpottinger felt and fertiliser manufacturer. Peggy Weir also names another owner, James Carson, in 1807 (Weir 1999, 79). On James Williamson's map of Belfast (1792) there are two separate houses at the Grove, occupied by Mr Simms and Mr Carson separately. Even earlier, on Taylor and Skinner's Road Maps of Ireland (1778), the Grove is occupied by "Lewis Esqr".
According to Dean there was a gate lodge at The Grove which was built for the Simms family after they had purchased the property from a James Carson about 1810. Matier’s Belfast Directory 1835-1836.
The Ritchie family were the last occupants of The Grove as a private residence up to 1918. It was then replaced by a spacious park and by a school (Baker 2011). The house itself was used as the District Headquarters of the Ulster Special Constabulary (B-Specials) until it was demolished in 1926 (Weir 1999, 79).
On the six-inch-to-the-mile Ordnance Survey map made 1952-67, a cycle track is shown in the Grove Playing Fields. There are also tennis courts, bowling greens and a pavilion in the park near Grove County Primary School. Baths are shown on York Road (https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2112701). These were replaced by the new pool at Grove Wellbeing Centre, which opened in 2008. The old Grove Baths were demolished in 2013. The site is now a vacant plot in the fork where North Queen Street meets York Street.
"Grove Street got its name from the residence of the Simms family, and afterwards of Mr. W. B. Ritchie, J.P. A preliminary notice of the sale by auction of the furniture and effects of Miss Ritchie appeared on June 10, 1910". "Belfast's Gooseberry Corner" by John J. Marshall in the Belfast Telegraph - Wednesday 22 January 1941.